chrisp65

1 minute ago, Panto_Villan said:

This is actually a common misconception - it is a defence, just not one that will always get you off the hook like "I didn't do it" or "that's not a war crime".

There's some situations where it's a complete defence. Like if a pilot is given a mission to bomb a military target that turns out to be civilian target, it's a valid defence to say "I was given orders and could not have known they would result in a war crime". Similarly, while it's a war crime to cut off food to Gaza, individual border guards are probably not committing war crimes when turning back individual aid trucks.

As for @ender4's question - that sort of thing comes up with child soldiers in African conflicts, and it's something that needs to be taken into consideration but doesn't necessarily mean you won't be held responsible. I think it's just handled on a case-by-case basis because the morality is so murky.

At the end of the day, even at Nuremburg only the high-ranking Nazis were executed or given life sentences. Low-ranking SS troops who were working at the death camps and fully complicit in mass murder generally just got a few years in prison (3-4 years). It's certainly debatable how much say they'd have had in their posting, and what they could have done to stop events.

Yeah, I wasn’t suggesting every border guard and payroll clerk be tried at The Hague. It was my second line, the psychos murdering people in cold blood on bus stops, the snipers using a wounded kid as bait to shoot at anyone attempting to help, the bulldozer driver flattening lines of bodies with hands and feet tied. 

We’ve all seen enough videos over the last 6 or 7 months, many by the perpetrators themselves, to know there are cold blooded murders happening on a daily basis.

Those kinda guys, they can’t just use following orders as a get out of jail free card.

1 hour ago, blandy said:

Indeed. Though they can't rape female prisoners if they're in a male prison, and that seems to be the issue for one camp.

…and quite a legitimate issue if you ask me.

Things get discussed by the great and the good and look like good ideas with good intentions, and then turn to shit when in a real world situation where some people are not thinking of the greater societal good. From proven convicted criminals with penises being put in to women’s prisons, to letting violent prisoners out a bit early because they’ve promised not to stab their girlfriend on the day they are released, to granting asylum because someone attended a bible reading class.

That’s a system error, not a reason to condemn all men, all trans people, all asylum seekers etc..

There are more than enough prison establishments in existence already for prisons not to be the issue it is. There are good design solutions for schools that mean all kids can go to the toilet. What we don’t have is rational debate and a grown up government.

My fear, is that the next lot in government will also allow the same heady mix of theoretical experiment lost in reports that nobody reads on serious issues like prison. Followed by then playing to the gallery with soundbites on how they are getting tough and clamping down and all that bollocks.   

2 minutes ago, desensitized43 said:

Agreed. I don't like the way she's gone about it at all and persnally think she's doing harm to her cause but I'm not sure how we move forward. The tendancy is to talk about women in general terms, like they all think like Rowling. I know my Mrs says she personally isn't bothered if someone Trans is using the womens toilet or changing room but I don't think she's ever known when someone Trans was, so is it a non-argument? It's a pretty wooly debate that ultimately boils down to how certain women (but evidently not all) "feel" about it rather than any kind of hard evidence of anyone being in actual danger.

As a man though, I don't feel like this is my fight to be had. It doesn't affect me and I don't really care what bathroom or changing room someone uses. It feels to me like something prominent women politicians need to sort out as they're the ones 'at the coal face', if you like and the rest of us need to butt out and be guided by them.

It’s part of the problem now that some people including some women feel like they are able to police what they perceive as their spaces. But how exactly is this going to be done, do the public have a right to see your genitalia if you’ve entered a women’s rest room and they suspect you are wearing a wig or are unusually tall?

Can I demand to see your cock if I suspect you might be a trans man and my son is in the building? 

The government involvement has been less than helpful, the spineless PM and the trouble making Badenoch with their flippant attitudes and their flippant comments on WC’s provision and access. Do we really think that a potential rapist is dissuaded from rape if a toilet has a lady symbol on the door? But would commit rape if there is a unisex facility? It’s a level of debate that is deliberately pathetic. 

3 minutes ago, desensitized43 said:

She wrote a massive blog about it some time ago that went pretty in depth as to her reasons. Wjhat I took from reading it was that she's a woman who's been abused by a man in the past (like a lot of women tbh) and her issue isn't with Trans people, it's a fear of men. So when she's in a women-only 'safe space', she doesn't want someone who's a biological man there regardless of whether they 'just identify' as a woman or are actively transitioning.

Personally I think you can do whatever you want to as long as you're not harming anyone else but there lies the rub of the issue...she feels she's being harmed by it.

Yep, I’ve read some of what she says and as I said, she has a nugget of a legitimate point that needs to be discussed including us being a society that has the ability to offer everyone a safe space. But everyone needs to mean everyone. Not just the group she advocates for, it’s a dead end argument to argue that one group should be protected and not another.

She regularly takes that point she wants to make and ends up in shrieking arguments online and creating social media pile ons. In contributing to that, she makes less people safe. 

Then, because of the weight of her identity and presence in the discussion any debate on any ‘serious’ news channel ends up simply reflecting that online shouty ping pong. We don’t get a sensible debate without it quickly turning in to whether you support or dislike Rowling and interpretations of what she stands for.  

I don’t think anyone believes that state run enterprise is a golden ticket that guarantees better performance. But I think most people can see that it has the potential to be more directly accountable on performance and less likely to be used first and foremost as a financial tool to extract benefit for owners hiding behind holding companies.

It’s an absolute monopoly, you cannot choose whose pipes you get what water from. We don’t allow a monopoly of newspapers and we don’t want foreign governments controlling newspapers. I’d expect some similar level of caution for drinking water.

Incidentally, it was one of those famous Starmer pledges (still on the website btw), that they would bring water back in to state ownership. Although last week, they did say that Labour and the country didn’t have the time or the money to do that. Whether what he writes or what he says is what he’ll do I guess that’s for all of us to take a punt on. So nothing is going to change any time soon from the two party system. It just depends on whether Thames decide to hand back the keys. They appear to hold pretty much all the cards. If there’s sufficient profit, they’ll keep it. If there isn’t, then it’s ours.

19 minutes ago, colhint said:

Yeah all well and good but I reckon loads of women are thinking why do the top six get far more  ref decisions go  their way, why never us. I reckon they view transgenderism a bit like Chelsea, barely ever heard of for a hundred years and now for some reason they are sky six.

I’m not sure JK Rowling’s main complaint is the sequencing and prioritisation of legislation or the running order of match of the day.

Having done a little bit of reading around it (a little bit). There is existing legislation around sexism and sexual harassment under the Equality Act Scotland. There is also section 38 of the Criminal Justice Act, and without going down the rabbit hole of a Scottish Law degree multiple other laws that prevent a man shouting ‘show us your tits’ at a woman in the street. As with this legislation, where the line is where the police and the prosecutors are prepared to do anything, that’s always a bit of a debate. There also appears to be the option of addition of sexism in to this Act, and / or a stand alone separate anti mysoginy Act which has been in consultation since 2022.

The law ain’t perfect, it’s heading in the right direction at a faster pace than it is in england and Wales.

It’s a developing area of freedoms and rights, there will be mistakes, there will be progress. I think doing ‘something’ is better than hoping it goes away and wishing it was still 1965 before the homos were invented.

I’m genuinely more concerned about invasive smells than what Kevin next door sticks in his arm or sucks in to his lungs. That’s his business.

9 minutes ago, Xann said:

Maybe. What do you have?

An aversion to closing my windows in summer.

17 minutes ago, colhint said:

 

So it appears you cannot shout to a person your a man not a woman, but you could still shout show us your tits.

Already covered under legislation passed 14 years ago.

Will it stink less than the stuff that’s around at present?

Imagine it being legit for the guy downstairs with issues to be smoking that shit 24/7 through a hot summer.

Best wishes my man. Nothing else to say really, just make sure they are doing everything you think they can.

23 minutes ago, ender4 said:

I’m intrigued in the general sense and not to do with Israel or Gaza.  

If I am ordered to kill or torture someone with the consequence of not carrying out the order being my own death… and I carry out the order, can I use that as a defence for my actions?

I genuinely don’t know.

Specific to this conflict, I doubt the IDF threaten to execute IDF personnel that refuse to murder mothers and children.

10 minutes ago, colhint said:

I haven't read it but it seems to suggest birth males who transition are protected, but birth females who stay female arn't. 

There is existing female specific law and offences, and further legislation proposed for this coming summer to deal specifically with hate crimes against women and girls.

’I haven’t read it but’ will be a common piece of prose over the next few weeks. Having seen the twisted anger a 20mph speed limit has on some roads in wales has created, **** knows what a piece of legislation like this will drag out of the scummier end of the press, politics, and social media.

I took the ‘you’ in the original post as a ‘people in general’, not some freaks on VT.

I think for ‘people in general’, it’s very likely to be true. People in my office presume I am a music snob as I still buy music rather than listening to what some Steve Jobs leasing algorithm gives me.

9 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Got halfway through jet washing the patio which is caked in mud from this winters run off from the lawn when the jet washer stopped. Burnt out motor. No I've got a half sparkling and half filthy patio, and I need to buy a new jet washer. 

Important question: have you drawn a cock n balls?

This isn’t personal, I just really want it to have burnt out whilst you were admiring a patio cock n balls.

24 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

the UK has been in decline for nearly 20 years now, and i dont see it changing any time soon, you could probably argue there has been a form of decline for 20+ years, but it wasnt as obvious.

Honestly, if i were younger, i would leave to find a future elsewhere, although tbf, a lot of the west is in decline to some degree, or varying degrees, some more than others ofc, but generally speaking.

I also dont seen any particular political party being able to fix it, its gone too far and any proposed changes would be fiddling around the edges, which our political class seem good at doing, ie: doing a lot of nothing, or even doing a lot of what is actually detrimental to us.

I also tend to think that we as a country have lost the ability to think strategically and long term, the past quarter of a century has just been running around putting fires out, and short term thinking, we have no ideology, or plan, or long term strategy i dont think.

The UK is done i reckon, at least until/unless some major, major changes are made, and by major i mean a major social and political upheaval, it will get worse before it gets better i think.

 

 

The bit I’d disagree with, is the lack of ideology. There absolutely is an ideology, albeit wrong. Perhaps the problem is that both the largest parties have the same ideology and have persuaded great swathes of the voting public that it is the only viable ideology.

That the market is king and that the economy of a nation state is run on similar lines to a domestic household budget.

We’ll also have to remember it’s no defence to say I was just carrying out orders.

it’s not just Netanyahu that is a war criminal, the IDF soldiers that have murdered tens of thousands also need to be hunted down, those behind 7th October also need to be hunted down.

13 minutes ago, bickster said:

Originally released in 1979 on Hitrun, Adrian Sherwood's pre On-U Sound label. The third Creation Rebel album - Rebel Vibrations, not released on vinyl since then until this week. I think this is the first AMS production to feature Style Scott on drums and percussion along with the usual CR crew of Crucial Tony, Lizard Doctor Pablo etc. 

It kind of hints at the masterpiece that was to follow Starship Africa (also rereleased for the first time in many years this week)

I think this is one of those rare occasions I’ll be getting the 6 CD set, everything on there and £20 

something for everyone whilst decorating

The telly.

There is very little I would be keen to watch, maybe the occasional series such as Pottery Throwdown. We have more channels and subscriptions than ever but i can scroll around and its all just mostly dross.

I’ve just watched the first episode of Fargo series 5 and I thought that was good, but I can see it being several days before I watch the next one, unless i just plain completely forget about it.

9 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

Possibly the most expensive album I have ever bought. The 5 disc version. 

 

Found one once for £60 but someone had written their name and address across the whole front in biro and doodled all over the back.